Smart shelves refer to the shelf that is transistorized with a radio frequency identification reader (RFID) sensor which is equipped inside, above or behind the shelves. Nowadays, hypermarkets are opting for smart shelves as they help in optimization and increase their sales. Consumers prefers to go to smart shelves equipped hypermarket because smart shelves offers discounts or offers as the consumer picks up a product. The market share of the smart shelves has constantly been rising due to the increasing adoption of smart shelves as they provide benefits to both customers as well as hypermarkets and offers various advantages over the normal shelves. The evolutionary advantages that smart shelves offer over normal shelves are automatic low end stock alert, better operations management, observing consumer preferences and theft identification. Further, the normal shelves do not offer these features and result in decreased efficiency of hypermarket staff and low sales figure.

However, the smart shelves are integrated systems offering better control and connectivity of hypermarket inventory. The smart shelves are meshed with weight sensors which send notification to the back end system when an item is lifted. Further, these shelves do send a message as misplaced items to the back end system when it detects a product that does not relate to that segment. Smart shelf gives various information to the retailers which they use to increase their customer service. The retail sector is expected to be more addressable to the consumer demands and provide better shopping experience by digitizing the stores and hypermarkets.

Market Size and Forecast

The market is anticipated to witness a robust growth over the forecast period. Increasing consumer expectation is resulting in the increased demand for digitized retail stores. Further, profit maximization of the retail stores is one of the key factors anticipated to fuel the demand for smart shelves market.

North America held the largest market of smart shelves market till 2016 and is expected to continue its dominance over the forecast period as they are early adopters of new technologies. Moreover, roughly 90% purchase is done in offline stores such as retails and hypermarket which is expected to provide a robust growth to the smart shelves market in North America.

North America is the largest market of smart shelves followed by Europe and Asia-Pacific. Moreover, Europe is the second largest market and expected to witness a significant growth over the forecast period. Rising consumer expectation for personalization and customization need and increasing share of the economy is anticipated to fuel the demand for smart shelves in the European countries.

Further, Asia-Pacific is expected to show a rise in the demand for smart shelves market owing to the increasing population and rising disposable income.

Market Segmentation

Our in-depth analysis segmented the global smart shelves market in the following segments:

By Type of Retail Outlet

Departmental Stores

Supermarket

Discount Stores

Supermarket

Specialty Stores

Others ( Dollar stores, malls, pharmacy store)

By Region

Global smart shelves market is further classified on the basis of region as follows:

Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Market Size and Y-O-Y Growth Analysis

Growth Drivers and Challenges

Disruptive technology and increasing customer personalization and customization is expected to drive the global smart shelves market over the forecast period i.e. 2017-2024. Moreover, the benefits of smart shelves such as profit maximization of the retailer and delivering customized shopping experience are expected to positively shape the global smart shelves market. In addition to this, increased level of customer satisfaction is projected to escalate the global smart shelves market.

However, the higher cost of smart shelves is likely to dampen the growth global smart shelves market. Moreover, shifting of customers to online retail store is anticipated to slow down the demand of smart shelves.